Brussels  - Financial regulators should be allowed to cancel bonuses promised to managers whose banks underperform, EU leaders were set to say at a summit on Thursday.

Bonus payments "must be deferred over time and could be cancelled in the event of a negative development" at the bank, said diplomats, quoting a draft statement prepared for the summit.

The call, which turns the screw on the world's top bankers, comes after EU member states complained that an earlier draft did not go far enough.

Brussels  - European Union leaders were set Thursday to challenge the United States and other world powers to curb financial market excesses and lavish bankers' bonuses as they gathered in Brussels for an informal meeting.

The meeting was intended to hammer out the EU's joint position for next week's Group of 20 (G20) leaders summit in Pittsburgh - talks which seven EU leaders are set to attend.

Brussels - International media unions in Brussels mounted a protest Thursday against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over his alleged attempts to intimidate European newspapers which have reported extensively about his controversial private life.

The International Federation of Journalists, the International Press Association and Reporters Without Borders urged journalists covering Thursday evening's informal European Union summit in Brussels to wear stickers defending freedom of the press.

Brussels  - European Union member states are at odds over the bloc's policy on climate change, with Poland and Italy fighting attempts to commit the bloc to funding targets for developing nations, diplomats said Thursday ahead of an EU summit in Brussels.

Brussels  - Some of the most fuel efficient cars on the road, including the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius 3, have received top ratings in the latest Euro NCAP crash test, according to figures provided by the organisation.

"The latest results for the Insight and the Prius 3 show that good fuel economy need not stand in the way of a high level of safety performance," the Euro NCAP said in commending the two hybrid vehicles for their impressive score on pedestrian safety.

Brussels  - More jobs will be lost in Europe before the economy recovers, the European Commission said Monday as it published forecasts pointing to a contraction in gross domestic product of 4 per cent in 2009.

"The situation has improved ... but the weak economy will continue to take its toll on jobs and public finances," said Joaquin Almunia, the European Union's economic and monetary affairs commissioner, as he presented updated forecasts for the current year.

Brussels - The Belgian Dutch-speaking region of Flanders is to ban the wearing of the Islamic headscarf in state-run schools, officials announced Friday after 10 days of confrontations with the Muslim minority over the issue.

The decision by the authorities of Belgium's Dutch-speaking community, who are responsible for education, comes with immediate effect, but will allow a one-year period of grace for those schools which have not yet brought in a ban of their own.

An exception will be made for religious classes, the Belga news agency reported.

Brussels  - The European Union should offer Bulgaria 300 million euros (436 million dollars) to help decommission a Soviet-era nuclear power plant in a bid to help wean it from its dependence on Russian energy sources, the head of the EU executive said Thursday.

"We want Bulgaria to be an integral part of the energy market in Europe," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said after talks in Brussels with Bulgaria's new premier, Boyko Borisov.

Brussels  - Frank Vercauteren on Thursday resigned as national coach of Belgium following a disappointing 2-1 defeat in Armenia in a World Cup qualifying Group 5 match on Wednesday evening.

The 52-year-old, who was only acting coach, said that he identified with the team and with the disappointing performance.

If Belgium had defeated the underdogs, they would have at least maintained a theoretical chance of making a play-off place in the World Cup qualifiers.

Brussels  - The European Union's executive feels sympathy and solidarity for Turkey after the floods which have ravaged the country, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Thursday.

Barroso has written to Turkish President Abdullah Gul to express "all his solidarity" and the European Commission's "sympathy and solidarity" after the flash floods which killed at least 31 people, Barroso's spokesman, Johannes Laitenberger, said.

Brussels  - The European Union should speed up its system for checking asylum seekers' fingerprints to make sure they have not applied for shelter in Europe before, the EU's executive said Thursday.

"We are proposing to simplify the management of Eurodac (the EU's database of fingerprints) to make the national authorities' jobs easier," European Commission justice spokesman Michele Cercone told journalists in Brussels.

Brussels  - European taxpayers should be prepared to pay up to 15 billion euros (21.9 billion dollars) per year to help poorer nations confront climate change, officials in Brussels said Thursday.

The European Union's executive, the European Commission, moved to take the lead in the world fight against global warming by being the first major player to quantify, at around 100 billion euros per year by 2020, the amount of funding that developing countries will need to cut their greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to rising temperatures.

Brussels  - More than half of online shops selling digital cameras and other electronic goods violate the European Union's consumer protection rules by providing incomplete or misleading information, an EU probe showed Wednesday.

The investigation by the European Commission targeted 369 websites selling digital cameras, mobile phones and other popular electronic goods in 26 EU member states plus Norway.

Slovakia did not participate in the study.

Brussels  - The European Parliament's socialist group are to call for a vote on the re-appointment of European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to be put off for at least a month, socialist leader Martin Schulz said Wednesday.

"We will suggest tomorrow morning ... to postpone the vote until October," Schulz said, ahead of a meeting with Barroso.

Currently, the vote is scheduled for September 16, with Barroso already have the backing of the leaders of all 27-member states, and no rival candidate.

Brussels  - The European Parliament's socialist group are to call for a vote on the re-appointment of European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso to be put off for at least a month, socialist leader Martin Schulz said Wednesday.

"We will suggest tomorrow morning ... to postpone the vote until October," Schulz said, ahead of a meeting with Barroso.

Currently, the vote is scheduled for September 16, with Barroso already have the backing of the leaders of all 27-member states, and no rival candidate.

Brussels  - A ban on schoolgirls wearing the Islamic headscarf which has provoked furious demonstrations in the Belgian city of Antwerp is facing judgement day after a top official suggested that it should be suspended.

Belgium's State Council is set to rule on Friday whether schools can legally ban the headscarf. Ahead of the ruling, the council's auditor suggested that the schools which had done so had overstepped their authority, and should therefore suspend the ban.

Brussels - The European Union warned Monday that plans by the United States to levy a 10-dollar charge to visitors could discourage European tourists and prompt Brussels to retaliate.

As of this year, visitors to the US who do not require a visa must register online at least three days before their arrival. And Washington lawmakers are now discussing whether to add a 10-dollar fee to the registration process.

But a European Commission spokesman said the introduction of a fee would represent "a step backward in our joint endeavour to ease transatlantic mobility".

Brussels - Eurosceptic lawmakers Monday urged European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso to promote a centre-right manifesto for his next executive and "confine socialism to the fringes."

Barroso - a former conservative prime minister from Portugal - is negotiating his re-election as head of the European Union's executive with European Parliament group leaders.

Brussels  - American Sanya Richards, Russian Jelena Isinbayeva and Ethiopian Kenenanisa Bekele on Friday picked up 333,333 dollars each as they shared the one-million-dollar jackpot on offer at the Golden League series.

The jackpot was shared by the athletes who manage to win the same events at all six Golden League meets in one season.

Bekele looked beatable at one stage in the men's 5,000m race at the Memorial Van Damme meet as he seemingly held back, but on the final straight he proved too strong for compatriot Imane Merga, who finished 0.35 seconds behind.

Brussels  - American Sanya Richards on Friday ensured at least a share of the one-million-dollar jackpot on offer at the Golden League series.

Richards won the women's 400m race - as she has in all five previous Golden League meets this season - and thus was the first athlete to be assured at least a share of the jackpot.

Richards, who also won the gold at the world championships last month, took first place in a world-best time this year of 48.83 seconds, beating Britain's Christine Ohuruogu into second place by more than a second.

Ohuruogu finished in 50.43. Jamaican Shericka Williams was third.